CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Liam
The car slowed as we turned onto the narrow street, and unease settled deeper in my chest with every passing second.
Diggs had given me the address only minutes earlier, pulled from the few pieces of Nora’s past we could trace before the trail went cold, and I hadn’t questioned it. I’d simply driven faster.
The house stood at the end of the street, half-hidden behind an overgrown hedge, its porch swallowed by shadows. Even from the road, something about it felt wrong. I killed the engine before the car had fully stopped.
“Stay sharp,” I said as I stepped out into the cold night air.
Diggs, Paddy, and Michael moved behind me, their footsteps quiet against the cracked pavement. I barely noticed them. My eyes were fixed on the house, on the dark windows, on the front door hanging slightly open, like someone had left in a hurry.
The thought struck me with such force that I had to clench my fists to keep moving. I crossed the yard quickly, the grass brushing against my boots, and reached the porch in seconds. The door creaked when I pushed it wider, revealing a hallway swallowed by dimness and stale air.
I stepped inside. The silence hit me first, and my instincts sharpened immediately. I scanned the hallway, the kitchen, and the living room beyond, taking in every detail with ruthless focus.
A chair lay overturned near the dining table. Broken glass glittered beneath the weak light. One of the cupboards hung open, its contents scattered across the counter. I moved deeper into the house, my pulse pounding steadily in my ears.
“Nora,” I called, but my voice sounded distant, swallowed by the emptiness around me.
There was no answer. Paddy appeared at my side, his expression grim as he surveyed the room. “Looks like someone left in a hurry.”
I stepped into the living room, and my gaze dropped to the floor.
There was fresh blood. Fresh enough that it hadn’t yet darkened completely, bright against the worn wood.
For a moment, the world narrowed to that single sight.
My chest stiffened so violently that I could barely breathe.
I forced myself to kneel beside it and touch the edge of the stain with two fingers.
The blood loss wasn’t enough to kill someone, but it was enough to tell me that Nora had been here and that she’d been hurt. I rose slowly, every muscle in my body shaking with fury.
That fucking bastard had reached her before I did.
The sight of the blood shattered the last of my restraint. The fury that had been simmering inside me since she disappeared rose violently, sharp enough to make my hands tremble. Victor Hale had hurt her. The thought burned through me like fire.
I wanted to tear the house apart. I wanted to hunt him down immediately, to find him before another second passed, and make him pay for every moment of fear he’d forced Nora to carry.
But rage wouldn’t help her now. Rage would only make me reckless, and recklessness could cost Nora her life.
I forced myself to kneel beside the blood again.
“Nora,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.
Diggs stepped into the room behind me, followed by Michael. They saw the blood and stopped immediately, the silence between us thick with understanding.
“Liam,” Paddy said carefully. I stood before he could say anything else.
“Secure the house,” I ordered, my voice low and controlled despite the storm raging inside me. “No one touches anything until we know exactly what happened here.”
The three men moved at once, but I wasn’t finished.
“Diggs, collect every possible clue. I want fingerprints, footprints, blood spatter, and anything else that tells us how many people were here and where they went.”
Diggs nodded.
“Paddy, get men talking to every neighbor on this street. I don’t care if they’re asleep, drunk, or pretending not to see anything. Someone heard something. Someone saw something.”
Paddy’s expression hardened. “I’ll find them.”
I turned to Michael. “Trace every vehicle that left this area within the last hour. I want security footage from every road, every gas station, and every traffic camera within ten miles. If Victor Hale drove away from this house, I want to know what he was driving, who was with him, and which direction he went.”
Michael reached for his phone immediately. “I’m on it.”
I watched them spread through the house, their movements fast and precise, but the fury inside me refused to settle. It sat beneath my skin like a blade, cold and dangerous, waiting for the moment I found Victor Hale.
Paddy turned the house into a command center within minutes, and the silence that had once filled the rooms was replaced by the sharpness of phones ringing and voices overlapping.
I remained near the bloodstain, listening to the chaos build around me while forcing myself to stay perfectly still. I needed to be still. That was the only thing keeping me from tearing the house apart with my bare hands.
Diggs emerged from the kitchen first, wiping dust from his fingers as he approached me with the careful expression of a man who understood that every word mattered.
“We found partial prints on the back door and along the hallway,” he said. “Nothing useful yet, but the team is working on it.”
“Keep working,” I replied.
He hesitated, studying my face before speaking again. “Liam, we’ll find her.”
I looked past him, toward the darkened rooms of the house, and answered in a voice so cold it barely sounded like mine. “We’d better.”
Diggs nodded once and disappeared again. Paddy remained near the dining table with two phones in his hands, speaking to different contacts without missing a beat.
“Yes, every house on the block,” he said on one line. “I don’t care if they claim they heard nothing. Knock on every door again.” He switched to the other phone immediately. “Check the highway cameras within a twenty-mile radius. Any vehicle leaving this neighborhood after midnight gets flagged.”
I could hear the strain beneath his control, because Paddy had worked with me long enough to know what Nora meant to me, and he understood that failure wasn’t an option tonight. One of Paddy’s phones vibrated again, and he answered immediately.
“Talk to me.” A voice crackled through the speaker, too faint for me to make out the words, and I watched Paddy’s expression change as he listened carefully.
“What kind of sound?” he asked. He listened for a few more seconds before looking at me.
“A neighbor two houses down heard a gunshot,” he said quietly. “About forty minutes ago.”
The words struck me like a physical blow. A gunshot, Nora’s blood, and Victor Hale’s presence inside the house connected in my mind with terrifying speed. But I forced the panic back again. Panic wouldn’t help Nora. It would only slow me down.
“Get the exact time,” I said. “And find out if anyone saw the vehicle afterward.”
Paddy relayed the order immediately, and the next several minutes stretched painfully as the rain outside grew heavier and tapped against the windows like impatient fingers.
Diggs moved through the hallway collecting evidence, while Michael coordinated with men stationed along the highways. Every report came in fragments: a noise, a shadow, and a car moving too quickly through the neighborhood.
Then another call came through. Paddy answered and listened without speaking, and I watched his face harden with every passing second.
“What is it?” I demanded.
“A witness saw a car leaving the street shortly after the gunshot,” he replied. “An older Corolla. Dark paint, possibly blue or black. It was speeding toward the highway.”
My pulse slammed against my ribs. “License plate?”
“Partial,” Paddy replied. “The witness only caught the last two digits.”
I took the tablet from Michael and pulled up the map of the surrounding roads. “Which highway?”
“Eastbound,” Paddy said. “Toward the interstate.”
I studied the routes quickly. If Victor had taken the interstate, he could already be miles away, but he wouldn’t have chosen a random direction. He would have planned an escape route that gave him the best chance of disappearing before anyone could track him.
Another phone rang. Paddy answered again, and this time he didn’t speak at all. He listened, nodded once, and lowered the phone slowly.
My stomach tightened. “Paddy.”
He looked at me, and I knew before he said a word that this call was different.
“Another witness saw the Corolla at the highway on-ramp,” he said. “They saw three people inside. One man,” he said carefully. “And two women.”
The hallway seemed to tilt around me.
“Three,” I repeated.
Paddy nodded. For a moment, I couldn’t hear anything except the sound of my own heartbeat.
The image formed in my mind with brutal clarity: Nora injured, her mother beside her, and Victor Hale driving them away while I stood in this house surrounded by evidence that should’ve led me here sooner.
I gripped the edge of the table so hard my knuckles turned white.
“Where were they heading?” I asked.
“Still eastbound,” Paddy said. “But the witness believes they were moving fast enough to reach the interstate within minutes.”
I straightened slowly and gritted my teeth. Victor Hale had taken Nora, and now I finally had a trail worth following.
I stared at the map on the tablet, my eyes tracing every road that branched east from the interstate.
Victor had a head start, but not enough of one to disappear completely. The Corolla was old, and that should be a disadvantage.
“Show me every possible route,” I said.
Michael slid another tablet toward me, highlighting the roads that connected to the interstate. “If he keeps eastbound, he can reach the county line in less than an hour,” he explained. “After that, there are three major exits he could take without attracting attention.”
I studied the map with ruthless focus. “Split the convoy,” I ordered. “Diggs, take the northern route and cover every exit between here and the county line. Michael, take the southern highway and check every gas station, motel, and rest stop. Paddy, you’re with me.”
Paddy nodded immediately. “Cars are ready.”
“Load everything,” I said. “Weapons, radios, medical kits, and spare fuel. I don’t want to stop for anything once we’re on the road.”
The house exploded into motion again. Men rushed outside, trunks slammed shut, radios crackled with updates, and the sound of engines starting filled the night. I remained at the table for one final second, my gaze fixed on the bloodstain.
Nora was alive. I knew it with a certainty that burned through my chest. I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door. The cold air hit me the moment I stepped outside.
Diggs checked the magazine of his weapon before sliding it into place. Michael loaded a medical kit into the backseat of his car. Paddy opened the driver’s door, but I took the keys from his hand before he could climb in.
“I’m driving,” I said.
He didn’t argue. I slid into the seat and started the engine.
The car roared to life beneath me, vibrating with the same fury that pulsed through my veins.
Diggs and Michael pulled their vehicles into position behind us, forming a convoy that stretched across the darkened street.
I gripped the steering wheel and looked one last time at the house behind me, then pressed my foot against the accelerator.
The tires screamed against the wet pavement as we tore out of the driveway and onto the highway, chasing the faint trail of a beat-up Corolla and the woman I loved.